2011 Face of America Bike Ride (I need help raising money for veterans)

[No_Pressure]

Hello extremeskins, for years I have enjoyed my complete anonymity as a poster on this forum. Sure, I showed up for a couple of small events here and there, but nobody really knows me, knows my name, or remembers anything about me. I enjoy this because it lets me say my opinions (in the rare case that I do at all these days) and have them looked at objectively by everybody on here without labeling me as one thing or another or expressing any bias. On top of that, there are thousands of members on here from the Maryland/DC/VA area and god forbid any of you actually know who I am

So clearly, I would only give up my anonymity on here for a good cause.

Each year I participate in the Face of America Bike Ride which is a ride that takes my father, brother, sister in law, myself, and many other riders from right in front of the Capital in DC to the battlefield at Gettysburg over the span of 2 days (with an overnight stay in Frederick). The ride is a charitable event aimed at raising funds for the Wounded Warrior Project, a non-profit organization which provides services to recently disabled veterans of our nation's military.

The two day ride consists of all types of people, from individual cycling enthusiasts to teams from local businesses, and wounded veterans or active and retired military which make up the majority of riders. Many of the cyclists are servicemen who are disabled in some way- many of which are amputees or paralyzed from the waist down. These men make the roughly 100 mile trip pedaling hand crack cycles. Watching these guys slowly but surely overcoming each steep hill along the way, sometimes on their own, sometimes with the help of their teammates is truly an inspiring sight to see.

Registration for the ride in the past has been a couple hundred dollars which were donated to charity, and any other charitable donations you felt like collecting or making. This year the organizers of the event, World T.E.A.M. Sports has put a major emphasis on fundraising. Each rider is now required to pay for registration and required to raise a certain amount of money for the ride, which is great because it ultimately means that along with increased participation from organizations and individuals in the area as well as out of state, we will be able to raise more money than ever for the Wounded Warrior Project which means our wounded veterans can continue to receive top notch support and care.

I need to raise as much money as I can for this ride. I am riding for my dad's company's team which is team Booz Allen and every dollar I raise will be matched in a donation by Booz Allen. That means that the 150 dollars I have raised already is really 300 dollars. The goal is set at $750, but I've already met the minimum with the Booz Allen backing.

http://www.worldteamsports.kintera.org/faf/search/searchTeamPart.asp?ievent=451174&team=4010652.

The link above will direct you to the Booz Allen donation page for the ride. If you go to that page and then click on my name ( Michael Salzano ) you will be able to contribute to my fundraising efforts and help out the Wounded Warrior Project. Even if you don't feel like donating to me individually, but you want to make a contribution please donate to the Booz Allen team in general. Every dollar you donate will be matched by Booz Allen either way, so if you are so inclined to help out a charitable event, I urge you to do so. This is not a political event, I'm quite anti-war myself and there are a great deal of people on this ride with a wide range of viewpoints. The one thing that we can all agree on is in spite of what any of us think about the wars or conflicts our nation is or has been involved in, the men who are fighting and becoming maimed/wounded in battle deserve whatever help we are able to provide for them.

I don't like hitting anybody up for money, and I've never done something like this before, but I know that the tailgate in particular is full of good people who may be willing to donate money to help our nation's wounded veterans. Thanks for hearing me out, and if you donate any money however large or small the sum, thank you for your support.

If any of you are cycling enthusiasts who are interested in becoming involved with this ride, there is signup information on the World T.E.A.M. Sports website. This ride is not a race or professional event in any manner. There are probably well over a thousand riders this year, we always have a car keeping pace at the front and back of the group, there is a police escort the entire way which makes riding fairly safe compared to other rides I participate in, there are bike rentals, there are repair men who travel with us, there are rest stops with plenty of food and drinks for everybody at regular intervals and there are proper emergency services on hand for the entire length of the ride. It really is a fun and inspiring event. The ride itself ends with a cruise through the Gettysburg battlefield and a welcoming party and closing ceremonies at a private residence around the corner from Eisenhower's farm.

[sportjunkie07]

man would def. love to do this. i was actually just researching the ms150 ride from houston to austin. do you have to have a legit bike to do this, or will a $200 bike with a few extra inner tubes do the job?

[No_Pressure]

man would def. love to do this. i was actually just researching the ms150 ride from houston to austin. do you have to have a legit bike to do this, or will a $200 bike with a few extra inner tubes do the job?

Any type of bike is welcome. Obviously I would suggest a half-decent road bike or hybrid with road tires because it makes it easier. There are people every year who complete the trip on $100.00 mountain bikes and people who complete it on $5,000.00 carbon fiber racing bikes. The pace is kept fairly slow at most times because of the many hand crank cycles. Naturally, if you want to ride quickly there are stretches where the line really spreads out and you can average 17mph+ but while traveling with the pack you can expect to average 10-15 MPH. It is a really relaxed ride atmosphere and it is welcoming to pretty much anybody that wants to come along regardless of their equipment and riding experience.

---------- Post added March-11th-2011 at 04:41 PM ----------

If its alright with the admins I'm going to bump this thread a little bit, not a whole lot because I don't want to be annoying, but I didn't have the link to the fundraising site until yesterday so I'm a little behind the rest of my family, but I believe I can raise more money than they can if I try. It already jumped from 150 to 200 so somebody or somebodies have contributed! Thanks a lot!

Edit: I guess it won't let me bump the thread if I'm the last one who responded. A great feature for the rest of the forum, but I'm afraid my thread will get lost in the sea of threads here in the tailgate...